Hacker weev sentenced to 3.5 years in iPad breach

[&amp;lt;a href="//storify.com/cbccommunity/weev-sentence" target="_blank"&amp;gt;View the story "Hacker weev sentenced to 3.5 years in iPad breach" on Storify&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;]&amp;lt;h1&amp;gt;Hacker weev sentenced to 3.5 years in iPad breach&amp;lt;/h1&amp;gt;&amp;lt;h2&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/h2&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Storified by &amp;lt;a href="http://storify.com/cbccommunity"&amp;gt;CBC News Community&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;amp;middot; Tue, Mar 19 2013 09:56:04&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;American hacker Andrew Auernheimer, known on Twitter as &amp;lt;a href="https://twitter.com/rabite" class="account-group js-account-group js-action-profile js-user-profile-link js-nav"&amp;gt;@rabite &amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; and elsewhere online as weev, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for revealing a security flaw that allowed him access to the email addresses of 114,000 iPad users.&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;The &amp;lt;a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/06/10/ipad-hacker-att-email.html" class=""&amp;gt;security breach in 2010 exposed the information of iPad users&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; who used AT&amp;amp;amp;T's 3G wireless service in the U.S., the only company that offered 3G iPad service at the time. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Thanks, @GiantEye for these k-rad bandanas. Wore one today in a mashable video with @AlexJamesFitz #productplacement http://pic.twitter.com/K0gTmyuiI4Andrew Auernheimer&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Auernheimer, who was working with the hacker group Goatse Security, said he gave the list of compromised information to Gawker Media on one condition -- that Gawker would redact the users' email addresses and unique SIM card numbers in their reporting. &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Apple's Worst Security Breach: 114,000 iPad Owners ExposedApple has suffered another embarrassment. A security breach has exposed iPad owners including dozens of CEOs, military officials, and top...&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Gawker said the information belonged to "thousands of A-listers in finance, politics and media, from New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson to Diane Sawyer of ABC News to film mogul Harvey Weinstein to Mayor Michael Bloomberg." &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;The security vulnerability that revealed the addresses and SIM card information was fixed before Gawker published its story, but &amp;lt;a href="http://gawker.com/5559725/att-fights-spreading-ipad-fear" class=""&amp;gt;AT&amp;amp;amp;T said Goatse Security were not the ones to alert them to the bug&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Auernheimer, and Daniel Spitler, a 26-year-old bookstore security guard from San Francisco, were &amp;lt;a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/01/18/technology-ipad-data-theft-arrests.html" class=""&amp;gt;charged with fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;Spitler &amp;lt;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/24/hacker-pleads-guilty-to-atandt-ipad-breach/" class=""&amp;gt;pleaded guilty in 2011&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; and is awaiting sentencing, although prosecutors recommended a sentence of 12 to 18 months in the plea deal. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Weev is a controversial figure in the online world. He's a &amp;lt;a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20007407-245.html" class=""&amp;gt;self-described "troll"&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; who publishes deliberately provocative and offensive blog posts and podcasts. His podcast series &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;The iProphet &amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;consisted of &amp;lt;a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/06/17/the-ugliest-computer-hacker/" class=""&amp;gt;"12 racist, antisemitic and frankly lunatic"&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; episodes. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;The name of his hacker group takes its name from an infamous internet shock image. (Don't Google it. Please.)&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;But fans and detractors alike were shocked by the nearly three-and-a-half-year sentence for Auernheimer's crime. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Justice isn't solely about supporting the rights of people you like.Xeni Jardin&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;I have had a very bad series of experiences with @rabite but being #CFAA railroaded doesn't bring justice to anyone. It shames our country.Jacob Appelbaum&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;I have little respect for Weev, but we should all be terrified that guessing a URL can get you 3.5 years of jailtime: http://2.dashes.com/ZNgiZKAnil Dash&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;The sentencing is not about @rabite but about establishing a frankly crazy precedent for computer security research in North America.Nadim Kobeissi&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Note that @rabite just got sent down for 3.5 years for computer violations. That's 1.5 years longer than the #steubenville rapists #freeweevLaurie Penny&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;As Anil Dash mentioned above, weev's hack essentially involved guessing a series of SIM card ICCID numbers and attempting to connect to web addresses using those numbers. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;The hackers in weev's group used an automated script to make thousands of these requests, but his defenders said that "guessing URLs" or "doing arithmetic" shouldn't result in jail time.&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Watch me commit the very same crime for which @rabite was just sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30JcKmvKU38&amp;amp;amp;feature=youtu.beDaniel Sieradski&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Breaking the Lawmobius1ski&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Lawyers involved in the case admitted several times their ignorance of the programming techniques involved in the hack. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;I felt like I was watching a witch trial as prosecutors admitted they didnt understand computers.Tim Pool&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Prior to his sentencing, Auernheimer held a #FreeWeev party in Newark, N.J., offering invitations to anyone who wanted to come. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Anyone who wants the address for my pre-sentencing all night party in Newark tonight follow me and reply to this tweet. I will DM it to you.Andrew Auernheimer&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Auernheimer came appropriately attired. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Viame-cdn&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;OH: &amp;amp;quot;This is a who's who of troublemakers. This has to be the most surveiled party in the past decade.&amp;amp;quot;Andrew Auernheimer&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;If you want to keep watch on me via the BOP, my federal prisoner number is 10378-010. I will never forget that number.Andrew Auernheimer&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;@rabite @AnonyOps can you get someone else's sentence by changing the number to 10378-011? Seriously, the system sucks. Stay strong.Robin Darroch&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Auernheimer also gave an "Ask Me Anything" interview on Reddit yesterday, providing predictably trollish answers to users' questions. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;What's next, after your release?fixedzero&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;I am running for Congress there is a function called congressional immunity in our Constitution that allows you to drop information on the floor of the Congress or in the Federal Register and you cannot be sued for libel and they cannot hold a grand jury for evidence of criminal activity if I get to be elected to the house then I can drop hacks on the floor of Congress and be completely immune for doing soweev&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Do you have any regrets with the whole at&amp;amp;amp;t fiasco? If you can do it all over again, would you have gone to at&amp;amp;amp;t before going to a reporter about their security issues? And finally, are you nervous about facing 10 years in federal prison?craze177&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;My regret is being nice enough to give AT&amp;amp;amp;T a chance to patch before dropping the dataset to Gawker. I won't nearly be as nice next time. weev&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;His Reddit posts were actually used against him in his sentencing. &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Federal Prosecutors cited @rabite's Reddit AMA three times in their justification for sentencing.Tim Pool&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;Is this the first time Reddit posts have bee used as a justification for harsh sentencing in court?Tim Pool&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;This is the last tweet Auernheimer wrote before his sentencing.&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;&amp;lt;div&amp;gt;No matter what the outcome, I will not be broken. I am antifragile.Andrew Auernheimer&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;